Cooper junior Goolsby provides team with encouragement, sudden power surge

Junior Baylee Goolsby hit her first home run of the season on Friday and added her second on Saturday, but when you ask her about her performance at the plate, she points you to the effort of the entire Cooper team.

And when she tells you that she lives for the pressure situations, it’s not so she can be carried on her teammates’ shoulders after a walk-off grand slam.

Instead, she just enjoys seeing her team get the win after a hard-fought game.

This isn’t surprising coming from the girl who sends encouraging text messages to her teammates before games and gets the team together for lunch.

“We’ve got a pretty experienced group this season,” head coach Landon Winton said. “They’ve all played together for a long time. Sometimes when they’ve been around each other too long, they can start getting on each others nerves. But she’s really helped to unite the team.”

Goolsby has also helped the team at the plate.

She leads the team in RBI with 50 and is currently batting .500.

While looking at the stat sheets, Winton said that if it’s an offensive category, Goolsby is either No. 1 or No. 2.

This last weekend against Perryton in bi-district play, Goolsby finished with a pair of singles and the two homers, one of which was inside the park.

Consistent and solid is how Winton describes the play of his three-hole hitter all season.

“Her swing is very smooth,” he said. “There’s no wasted movement. It’s just a pure swing.”

Goolsby attributes her success at the plate to the extra tee work she and her teammates do at practice.

“We’re just working together as a team trying to get our bats going good,” she said.

Last weekend, Cooper finished with 22 runs off 26 hits.

The Lady Pirates hope to keep the offensive firepower going this weekend in the Area round of the playoffs against Abilene Wylie, a team they have already beaten twice this year.

“They’re a very competitive group of girls,” Winton said. “They’re going to fight you. We have to really continue to step up and get better as we go. They gave us a run for our money.”